Capitol Theatre
264 St. Paul Street,
St. Catharines,
ON
L2R 3N1
264 St. Paul Street,
St. Catharines,
ON
L2R 3N1
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Allen's Theaters Ltd., Famous Players
Architects: Charles Howard Crane, Harold Solomon Kaplan, Abraham Sprachman
Firms: Kaplan & Sprachman, Kiehler & Schley
Previous Names: Allen Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Allen Theatre was opened on April 26, 1920. It was designed in an Adam style by architect Howard C. Crane, with the local firm Kiehler & Schley, for the Allen’s Theaters Ltd. chain.
Taken over by Famous Players on August 30, 1924 and re-named Capitol Theatre. It was remodeled by the architectural firm Kaplan & Sprachman on September 2, 1939. It was closed on August 20, 1967 and converted into retail use. It was demolished by 2014.
Contributed by
Chad Irish
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
I was only in this theatre once. I saw the Deborah Kerr film “The Innocents” there during its first run. The building reminded me of the Music Hall theatre in Toronto Canada, and neither one could be described as being an art deco structure. Incidentally, the Music Hall was originally know as the Allen Danforth.
This has been demolished. Modern commercial builsings on the site.
Mr. Les E. Mitchell who became a Vice-President, Operations of Famous Players Limited, was manager of this theatre for a time in the early 60’s. When Mr. Mitchell was listing all of our theatres for correspondance distribution — he would always list it as Capitol Theatre * St. Kitts — rather than St. Catherines!!
1962 photo of St. Paul Street added, courtesy of the Growing Up In Western Hill!!! Facebook page. Capitol Theatre marquee in the background.
The Allen theatre was taken over by Famous Players on August 30th, 1924 and renamed Capitol. Remodeled and reopened on September 2nd, 1939.
more to come…
Closed by Famous Players on August 20th, 1967 and converted into retail space.
The Capitol Theatre closed with “The Love-Ins” and “Frontier Hellcat” as a double feature.
Information about the Capitol as of 1939 goes as follows (including comparisons between the 1920 look and the 1939 look): The exterior of the Capitol building featured a yellow primrose and black vitrolite plates while mirrors of weather resisting qualities will gleam from recesses in the wall. There are poster frames located both inside and outside the theater, as well as a shadow box lighting process. The marquee was updated in the 1939 remodel featuring neon lighting supplemented with lamps that flicker far and wide the name of the then-current attractions.
The foyer, deep carpets, floor lamps, and chesterfields were dipped in the colors of blue, yellow, and white, while gold neon lighting reflected the fluorescent type spread into a soft glow over the ceiling. Until the 1939 remodel, the Capitol’s box office was located inside the theater, but was relocated placed in the edge of the sidewalk in the 1939 remodel featuring a large bluish mirror fronting the lower part of the box office. The walls are made out of acoustic celetox board with finishing shades of terra cotta with fancy design enhancing the Neo Classic scheme, which is the ideal substance for perfect acoustics.
The ventilation system is a large fan sweeping no less than 30,000 cubic feet of fresh air a minute into the auditorium and the exhaust fan sucks it out again so quickly that the auditorium has a complete change of air every three minutes. The bathrooms for both genders are also updated in the 1939 remodel featuring blue carpet gracing the women’s room where the walls featured decorations of yellow blending in with green and blue furniture as well as costmetic sets. The men’s room featured a black and white vitrous tile with a mosaic tile floor.
There were no changes in the auditorium in the 1939 remodel. The original 1920 Adam-architectural Neo Classic scheme and designs were still attached. The stage is built up in steps all across the front. However, the screen was updated and was designed to eliminate glare and give perfect vision surrounded with heavy gold tassel curtains on the sides.